Politics

Efforts to expand Kentucky’s Civil Rights Act are getting a boost from a Western Kentucky University legal scholar.

History Professor and Constitutional law expert Patricia Minter is testifying Wednesday in Frankfort in support of a bill that would offer greater legal protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

The measure would expand the reach of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act to cover LGBT individuals.

“It won’t be long before Americans all over the country will look back at using sexual orientation or gender identity as discriminatory categories, and wonder what people were thinking,” Minter said.

The Kentucky House Judiciary committee will hear testimony regarding the bill Wednesday at noon eastern.

Minter acknowledges the bill faces an uphill climb in this year’s legislature. Opponents of protecting LGBT individuals under the state’s Civil Rights Act say such a move would infringe upon the religious beliefs of employers and landlords.

The Senate version of the bill is called the Kentucky Competitive Workforce Act. The measure is backed by nearly 200 employers who have formed the Kentucky Competitive Workforce Coalition. The group argues that protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination would make the Bluegrass Stare more attractive to businesses who favor progressive values, as well as workers who want to live in places seen as welcoming to the LGBT community.

Three Democratic Louisville Metro Council Democrats are sponsoring a measure effectively banning development of anaerobic digestion facilities — or methane gas plants — for at least six months.

Backing the ordinance are council members David James of District 6, Barbara Shanklin of District 2 and Mary Woolridge of District 3. It’s set to be discussed in the council’s land development committee at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Their aversion to development of such facilities stems from a months-long fight that erupted last year in response to plans for developing a methane gas plant in a densely populated residential area of the California neighborhood.

The effort has the support of nearly 200 Kentucky employers who have formed the Kentucky Competitive Workforce Coalition. It includes large companies, such as Brown-Forman, as well as small, locally owned businesses.

A “Fairness Rally” in support of the legislation is being held at the state capitol rotunda in Frankfort Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says he will help Gov. Matt Bevin get a waiver from the federal government this summer to begin charging Medicaid recipients for their health insurance.

That will be part of Paul’s message this week as he visits 18 Kentucky cities in four days, his first major trip in the Commonwealth since ending his presidential campaign.

The town hall-style events begin in Scottsville on Tuesday and end in Radcliff on Saturday. Paul has had similar trips in recent months, but this time he won’t be dogged by questions about his other campaign.

Paul is favored to again win the Republican nomination, where he could face Democrat Jim Gray in the fall. The Lexington mayor is the most well-known of the seven Democrats vying for the nomination.

Paul may also discuss the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the increasingly charged political debate about how to replace him on the court.

As part of his proposed budget cuts, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin exempted what he considered to be key government services. Those not protected include agencies charged with holding him and his administration accountable.

Katie Gabhart, the executive director of the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, said the proposed 4.5 percent budget cut this year and the 9 percent cut over the next two years will devastate the agency. She said it would force her to lay off the agency's sole investigator and auditor, two employees who already work part time.

"We will be an investigative and auditing agency with no investigator and auditor," Gabhart told House lawmakers this week. "Public servants are going to violate the ethics code ... and if they know we have an ethics commission with so few resources that we can't enforce the code, then what is the point of having one?"

The cuts also include the Registry of Election Finance, the agency that makes sure politicians follow the rules when they raise and spend money for their campaigns. Executive Director John Steffen said the agency could not sustain a 9 percent cut and would not be able to hire an auditor. In response, House lawmakers suggested changing state law so fewer candidates would have to file disclosure reports.

Governors across the country are issuing their state budget plans and outlining policy proposals. Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson checks in with reporters in Kentucky, Wyoming and Connecticut, where the governors recently gave their State of the State addresses, to discuss some of the top issues in those states.

State Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a Hopkinsville Republican and the bill’s primary sponsor, clashed Thursday morning with opponents of the bill, who say it would violate women’s right to have an abortion.

“If you think this isn’t about making sure that mother has all the information that she needs and that this is no more than a political stunt, well, we’re just going to have to disagree,” Westerfield said

The bill would require a doctor to provide a “simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting,” including the location of the fetus in the uterus and a medical description of the body.

The committee approved the bill 11-1. State Sen. Perry Clark, a Louisville Democrat, was the lone no vote.

A Kentucky senate committee has approved a bill to establish two separate marriage license forms, one for gay couples and another for straight couples, although people can choose either form.

One form would note ‘first party’ and ‘second party’ and the other would note ‘bride’ and ‘groom’.

Chris Hartman with the Fairness Coalition would prefer one document for all couples.

“We would prefer to see one marriage license so there’s not even the appearance of disparate treatment," said Hartman. "But, at the end of the day, all couples are still going be able to get valid, legal marriage licenses in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. That’s what’s important to us.”

The measure comes five months after Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was jailed for refusing to issue licenses to same-sex partners.

Also under the bill, the names of county clerks would be removed from the licenses.

Kentucky legislators will again consider legislation that would allow local governments to temporarily levy a 1 percent sales tax to fund projects.

Despite support from across the political spectrum, it’s unclear whether the local option sales tax will become Kentucky law this year.

The local option sales tax bill brought together the House’s Democratic and Republican leaders, who are otherwise locked in a fierce political battle for control of the legislative body. It was proposed Tuesday by Democratic House Speaker Greg Sumbo and Republican House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover.

Supporters say the legislation would allow local governments to decide upon and fund important projects in their communities, such as the planned Louisville Waterfront Park expansion.

A bill that would allow private companies to finance, construct and operate public projects is advancing in the state House, this time without a major hangup for some legislators.

The public-private partnership bill failed in the last three legislative sessions, when lawmakers raised concerns that the financing model would be used to repair and implement tolls on the Brent-Spence Bridge in Northern Kentucky.

Under the bill, the Brent-Spence Bridge and any other project connecting Kentucky and Ohio are precluded from using the “P3” model.

Rep. Leslie Combs, a Democrat from Pikeville who sponsored the bill for the last three legislative sessions, refused to even mention the bridge’s name Tuesday when she presented the bill to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

“It does not include anything to do with a project in Northern Kentucky, therefore I do not wish to hear its name, I do not wish to have a discussion about it because it has nothing to do with that project in Northern Kentucky,” Combs said.

Federal officials say Kentucky could have to return more than $57 million in unused grant money because of Republican Governor Matt Bevin's decision to dismantle Kynect.

The federal government gave Kentucky a $289 million federal grant to plan and establish kynect, a health exchange where Kentuckians can purchase private insurance plans with the help of a federal subsidy. State officials have spent all of it except for $57.5 million.

A letter from Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt of the federal Department of Health and Human Services to Bevin last month says state officials cannot use that money to move the state to the federal exchange. The money would have to be returned.

Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said state officials would return any unused money.